Memory or Motherboard Problems with Acer Aspire 5750G laptop

I've been having erratic problems with my laptop for a while now. I get BSODs on a fairly regular basis, usually close to start-up, or on at or soon after resumption from sleep/hibernation. Once it's up and running things work Ok usually, although BSODs can happen any time.

I'm pretty sure that there's a problem with the memory, as I've run a couple of Memtest86+ tests, and both indicate errors. So, I'm looking to replace the Nanya memory (DDR3 1333) with a couple of 4Gb Crucial sticks. Crucial's interactive program suggest DDR3 PC3-12800 CL=11 sticks, so I'll probably look to buy these. Any observations on that choice would be welcome.

The reason I'm on here is that I'm not entirely sure that the problem is down to memory alone. On a few occassions the hard drive hasn't been recognized, even by the BIOS. I've tested the hard drive and that seems OK. Could the motherboard be in the process of failing? Or could memory issues alone account for the failure of the hard drive to be recognized? If the problem is with the motherboard I'll probably look to replace the laptop altogether rather than just replacing the memory. Any advice would be much appreciated.

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JackE

Crucial's a good choice. As for the HDD, I doubt the MB or the drive is the problem. I'd simply pop off the back cover and re-seat the drive --- as well as any other accessible connectors you can easily reach.

Jack E/NJ

Wyn

Thanks for the advice. Do you know how I can use Memtest86+ or another tool to work out which stick of RAM is failing, and then locate it physically when I open up the laptop? If the memory is the problem, and it's one stick only, I guess that if I remove the defective stick things should work Ok, albeit more slowly. Is this logic valid?

JackE

>>>I guess that if I remove the defective stick things should work Ok, albeit more slowly. Is this logic valid?>>>

Yup, that's what I'd do. Remove one 2GB module. See how it works. Then replace it. And remove the other. Might test each slot indivdually as well. You might be surprised to find there's probably not much speed difference if you don't have too many things running at the same time. Any matched pair of new DDR3 1333MHz or greater 4GB modules from Crucial or Amazon should work just fine.

Jack E/NJ

Wyn

Thanks - it has partially worked. It's still early days but it looks as if removing one of my two 4Gb modules has got rid of my BSOD problems.

However, I'm still getting erratic problems on booting up. I'm getting the messages "PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable" and "PXE-M0F: Exiting Broadcom PXE ROM. No bootable device - insert boot disk and press any key" on booting up. After a few attempts it usually works OK. I have the HDD as first in the boot sequence in BIOS.

Does this point to a progressive failure of the motherboard? I recently updated some drivers, via SlimDrivers. I suspected that some of the drivers installed were inappropriate ones, so I rolled them back. However, there may still be some inappropriate drivers in left. Could this account for the problems? It seems unlikely, because how would this account for the HDD not being recognized by BIOS?

JackE

I think it's having trouble booting from the HDD, bypassing it and then trying to boot from the next device on the list, which is probably the DVD since it's asking you to insert a disk. If you don't insert a disk, it goes to the next device that ***might*** find something bootable --- the broadcom network adapter. Doesn't find anything bootable on the network adapter either, so you get the broadcom error. Then it goes back to the HDD and so forth and so on till it finds something to boot with on the HDD.

This is not a comforting HDD symptom.

First things you gotta do is a backup of your data files and use the Acer recovery mgt (ARM) program to create a bootable USB erecovery stick.

Then as a test note the bios boot order of devices that come after the HDD. If you have some kind of a bootable DVD disk, insert that disk the next time it tries to boot and asks to insert a disk. If you don't have a bootable DVD, then insert the ARM bootstick but make sure the stick is next in the boot order after the HDD or DVD. If it then boots from other than the HDD, it sorta confirms what you're suspecting --- the bios is having a hard time recognizing the HDD and will boot from anything else it can find before trying the HDD again.

Jack E/NJ

Wyn

Yes, I was thinking along the same lines. Anyway, I'm backing up my data to an external HDD on a regular basis using SyncToy, so I'm fairly relaxed about things. I've been using booting memtest86+ from a memory stick on several occasions, plus Windows recovery disks from a desktop PC. These have been booting without problems, so this does point to a specific issue with the hard drive, or the connections to the hard drive.

I've run a number of diagnostic tools on the hard drive, and by and large these give a clean bill of health. However, HD Tune Pro and HDDScan both report UltraDMC CRC Errors (Value 200). My Googling suggests the problems may be caused by damaged cables. Any thoughts?

I think I'll just monitor things for now. Once the laptop boots up it works fine, so I'm not overly concerned.

JackE

>>> My Googling suggests the problems may be caused by damaged cables. Any thoughts?>>>

Sounds reasonable. As far as I know, the HDD receptacle is soldered to the MB so no cables. But the HDD plug and receptacle connections might be at fault assuming no solder breaks/cracks. So I'd get in there and gently pull/re-seat the HDD about a half-dozen or so times just to freshen up the pin/receptacle surfaces a bit. This reminds me of my good ole desktop days. Usually had to pull/re-seat my own and customer's drive cables at both ends just about every year on the first few warm humid days of spring. Same thing with the add-on cards. And then things would be good till the next year. Yep, those were the good ole days.

Jack E/NJ

Wyn

Things are workng Okish at the moment, with the laptop booting up first time most times, which I can live with. If, or is that when, things deteriorate I'll give your suggestion a go.

Thanks a lot for your help.

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